DailyDirt: Don't Make My Brown Eyes Blue!

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Eye color isn't a simple single gene trait. In a rare 1% of the population, some people have two different colored eyes or eyes with multiple colors (aka heterochromia iridum). Most people have brown eyes, but it's easy to change your eye color with contact lenses to any color you want -- even scary unnatural monster eyes. Eye color doesn't seem to have much meaning -- as long as you don't teach kids otherwise -- but genetic studies will probably find some interesting correlations in the future. After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
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Filed Under: biology, dna, evolution, eye color, farsightedness, genetics, heterochromia iridum, mutations, myopia, nearsightedness, vision


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2016 @ 6:00pm

    Melanesians and Aboriginals

    There are a few of both groups that have blonde hair and blue eyes along with dark skin. Neither has the same mutation that gives the rest of the world blue eyes.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    blogagog (profile), 9 Mar 2016 @ 6:23pm

    Things that make your brown eyes blue are much better than things that make your blue eyes brown.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    jim, 10 Mar 2016 @ 6:03am

    Re: oh, really easy

    One group, surviving a gene mutation, about 6/10 years ago. Sounds familiar, like the event that killed off the majority of the world population, then. Thee blue eye, lighter skin sound like an adaption trait that survived for some reason. Lower light level, different survival tatics needed. What driver for the adaption?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Mason Wheeler (profile), 10 Mar 2016 @ 6:56am

    But what about green and hazel eyes?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    klaus (profile), 10 Mar 2016 @ 7:04am

    Awesome

    How freakishly awesome it must have been to be the only person on the planet with blue eyes.

    And yes, that person got laid...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Gene Cavanaugh, 10 Mar 2016 @ 9:48am

    Brown eyes blue

    I have cataracts in my eyes (well, actually an artificial lens in one eye, and a cataract in the other).

    I likely wouldn't have them if my eyes had any protective pigmentation - ie, if my eyes weren't blue.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2016 @ 10:25am

    Thanks for the read!

    As someone with central heterochromia iridum (and heterochromia of the hair, although that's more subtle), I appreciated the additional information. Whenever someone asks me what colour my eyes are, I just ask them to make a best guess. Upside is that I can change my perceived eye colour by changing my shirt :D

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Rekrul, 10 Mar 2016 @ 1:31pm

    I have dark blonde/light brown hair and green eyes. My facial hair is black though.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    TRX (profile), 10 Mar 2016 @ 1:43pm

    > common ancestor

    As we were taught not that long ago, blue eyes occured spontaneously among various disparate groups as a result of one of the eye color genes being prone to damage.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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